Braces to Ferreira and Andy Keogh handed Glory just their third win in Gosford in 14 seasons and underlined their status as the team to beat in this campaign.

Just 10 minutes in, and with Glory already a goal up, the match was delayed for 45 minutes after one of the goalposts snapped.

But any thought that the home side would benefit from the interruption was dispelled as the visitors piled on two more in the opening half.

Ferreira, in just his second start of the season since round one, repaid Tony Popovic’s faith in spades with a classy header in the 23rd minute off a delightful ball from Jason Davidson. His second, from an acute angle, had a touch of luck about it as it floated in at the top left corner in the 41st minute.

“(I’m) very happy with the goals of course and obviously very happy with the win,” the well-travelled attacker told Fox Sports post-match.

“We want to keep winning and I’m very happy I could help the team achieve the three points.”

And the 29-year-old expects more of the same in 2019.

“We have a very strong squad and we’ve been very strong so far so hopefully we can keep going like this until the end and win something,” he said. “That’s what we all want.”

The match was bookended by goals to Keogh (3’, 90+2’) – ending his five game goal drought. A 77 minute strike by Jordan Murray was barely a consolation for the winless Mariners who end the year on two points after 10 rounds.

But one of the big talking point of the match was the almost comical replacement of the goalposts, with fans on Twitter coming up with their own suggestions.

The incident occurred when Tomislav Mrcela fired in an offside goal, then slumped in the back of the net, causing the upright to break. Both ends were eventually replaced by training goalposts.

The lengthy delay meant the game clashed with nearby fireworks, giving Mariners fans in the stands something more cheerful to look at,